Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is set to meet European Union leaders this weekend before heading to Luxembourg for talks with EU foreign ministers and to Strasbourg to pick up a prize she won 23 years ago.
At a ceremony at the European Parliament in Strasbourg next Tuesday, Suu Kyi will finally receive the Sakharov human rights prize she won in 1990 at the height of the Burma military crackdown.
The ceremony will be preceded by talks with EU leaders on a joint EU-Burma Task Force due to meet in mid-November which will explore ways that Europe can help Burma, an EU diplomat said.
It comes amid growing pressure from human rights groups who say the EU must continue to push for democratic reforms and accountability in the former military dictatorship.
On Tuesday, a coalition of NGOs penned an open letter to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton accusing the bloc of failing to meet its commitments to boost civil society participation in Burma.
“At present the EU is seen as prioritising normalisation of relations with the Burmese government, above and beyond its commitment to civil society,” reads the letter to Ashton.
“This perception, fair or otherwise, undermines EU policies in the country, keeps civil society away from policy processes, and ultimately weakens the prospects of transition.”
The letter noted that the EU has pledged to include all voices in their task force, including that of the Muslim Rohingya minority which is denied citizenship and heavily persecuted in Burma.
Related Stories
Ninety percent of Karen locals want constitution changed: survey
Suu Kyi wishes Burmese to be ‘rich in hope’
Suu Kyi: I cannot personally stop anti-Muslim violence in Burma
Suu Kyi will also hold talks with the European Union’s 28 foreign ministers over a luncheon in Luxembourg on Monday, EU sources said.
She will meet European Council president Herman Van Rompuy on Sunday in Brussels for face-to-face talks.
The Nobel laureate, now leader of the opposition in Burma and aiming to run in presidential polls in 2015, was under house arrest for long periods and only freed in 2010. But since taking a seat in parliament, she has come under scrutiny for a perceived failure to condemn ongoing rights abuses in Burma, especially those targeting its ethnic minority populations.
In July, the EU formally reinstated preferential trade terms for Burma in recognition of the country’s efforts to improve the political situation as well as its labour and social systems.
Six months ago, EU foreign ministers agreed to lift the last of the bloc’s trade, economic and individual sanctions against Burma, hailing “a new chapter” with the once pariah state.
The bloc had begun to ease sanctions in 2012 as the military, in power for decades, progressively ceded power to civilians and implemented wholesale reforms of the economy.